Vantage Bank, Inter National Bank announce merger

Guy Bodine is chairman, president and CEO of Vantage Bank Texas. The bank is merging with Inter National Bank of McAllen.

Guy Bodine is chairman, president and CEO of Vantage Bank Texas. The bank is merging with Inter National Bank of McAllen.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

Photo: Express-News File Photo

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Guy Bodine is chairman, president and CEO of Vantage Bank Texas. The bank is merging with Inter National Bank of McAllen.

Guy Bodine is chairman, president and CEO of Vantage Bank Texas. The bank is merging with Inter National Bank of McAllen.

Photo: Express-News File Photo

Vantage Bank, Inter National Bank announce merger

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

San Antonio’s Vantage Bank Texas and McAllen’s Inter National Bank officially announced plans to merge the two banks.

The institutions anticipate operating under the Vantage name beginning in December. Leadership teams from both banks will run the combined organization, but specifics will be announced at a later date.

The deal will create the state’s 42nd largest bank, with more than $1.9 billion in combined assets. INB currently ranks as the state’s 58th largest bank with just under $1.4 billion in assets as of March 31, according to the Texas Department of Bank. Vantage Bank, with $550.5 million in assets, was too small to make the list.

The merger had been in the works for more than a year. In spring 2017, the family of James W. Collins purchased a 100 percent interest in INB from Grupo Financiero Banorte of Mexico for an undisclosed price. The family already owned a controlling interest in Vantage Bancorp, the parent company of Vantage Bank. The family acquired the remaining shares in Vantage Bank in April, setting the stage for the merger, the San Antonio Express-News reported in May.

“This merger is the next logical step that creates substantial value for customers and employees of both” banks, Collins said in a statement. “Our customers will continue to enjoy the benefits of local decision making, while gaining access to an expanded product set and the convenience of a larger branch network throughout South Texas.”

The merger requires approval from the Texas Department of Banking and the Federal Reserve.

It’s unclear what impact the merger will have on staffing at the banks and their 24 combined branches. A fact sheet issued with the merger announcement said it is “our intention to place as many of our current associates as we can in meaningful roles in the combined organization.” INB employed 394 and Vantage had 89 employees as of March 31.

Guy Bodine, Vantage Bank’s president and CEO, said in the statement INB has “a long history of serving the international market and we are pleased to offer those international products and services with our Vantage Bank Texas customers.”

The Collins family has been involved in South Texas banking since 1985 when it was the founding investor in INB. The family sold the bank to Grupo Financier Banorte in 2006 before repurchasing it last year.

The Collins family invested in Vantage Bank in 2008. The family acquired the minority shares in Vantage for less than $1 a share, according to a minority shareholder who didn’t want to be identified. Original shareholders of Vantage’s predecessor had purchased shares for $7.50 each.

Bodine, in a March 6 letter to shareholders, addressed how some would lose money on the deal.

“While many of our shareholders will not recoup their original investment, based upon the opinion of our financial advisers we believe the transaction represents a fair price to the minority shareholders,” Bodine said. The letter was provided to the Express-News by the minority shareholder who didn’t want to be identified.

Vantage was acquired by an investor group in 2007, just before the start of the Great Recession. The bank lost a combined $35 million from about the time of the purchase through 2011.

In 2011, the Collins family recapitalized the bank. The family’s stake increased to about 70 percent as it added more capital, up from 5 percent in 2007, Collins said in a 2012 interview. The recapitalization came at a time when operating and credit losses wiped out the original shareholders’ investment, Bodine said in his letter to shareholders.

Collins is a general partner of Rioco Partners, a private equity and real estate investment firm based in McAllen.